Dark Lord Lawbook:Blocking Policy
This is the Dark Lord Lawbook's Blocking Policy page. This describes all forms of behavior not tolerated on the wiki and how they are dealt with. Overview The Dark Lord Database primarily follows the assumption of good faith, so users won't get in trouble for minor, isolated mistakes and infractions. An Admin or content moderator is always encouraged to inform an user about what they did wrong and explain why, without issuing an official warning. However, if users persistently fail to follow the rules and policies of the Dark Lord Database, official warnings should be issued, instructing them to stop their inappropriate behavior. If said users continue to violate the wiki's policies, blocks of increasingly lengthy durations are used in place of more warnings. This is just as general guideline though, and Admins may choose to use longer or shorter blocks at any time depending on the circumstances. Blocks will be extended if additional offenses are discovered after the user has been punished. At the same time, blocks may be shortened or even removed in case of accidents, misunderstandings or if the user is proven to be innocent or unfairly judged. Certain offenses are considered more serious than others and may result in direct blocks, with no prior warning. Vandalism Vandalism is the act of deliberately adding or changing content within the wiki in order to make it incorrect or unpresenteable for viewers. The Dark Lord Database does not tolerate vandalism, and any users who get caught partaking in this practice will be punished by the wiki Administration. Vandalism can come in several types, all detailed below. Edit Vandalism This section is for detailing all forms of vandalism related to editing articles. For more information about the wiki's editing guidelines, check our official Manual of Style page. *Adding false or unconfirmed information to articles (This includes incorrect references, categories, etc.) *Adding your personal opinions to articles (Avoid using highly subjective expressions like "beautiful" or "hot" when describing anything. If that comes from an official source like another character or the author, make sure to point it out,) *Adding nonsensical gibberish to articles. *Edit warring with another user. *Removing content from a page for no good reason. *Erasing or messing up all or most of the contents from a page (Major offense). *Creating pages that don't meet the minimal amount of content to justify it (An infobox, an opening sentence and the appropriate article sections, at least. See our Manual of Style). *Not following the proper layout for each type of article (See our Manual of Style). *Adding content in languages that are not English, unless it's in context with an element from the work. *Adding obscenities, slang terms, and euphemisms in articles, unless it's in context with an element from the work, Image Vandalism This section is for detailing all forms of vandalism related to uploading images. For more information about the wiki's image uploading guidelines, check our official Image Policy page. *Adding false information to image pages. *Misusing images in articles (Ex: Inserting an image so big that it gets in the way of the article's text). *Uploading extremely low-quality images. *Uploading images made by other people without permission. *Uploading images with text. If the English text is present in the original source, outside of speech balloons, then it can be kept. *Image warring with another user. *Uploading duplicate images (It might confuse users). *Uploading collages or pictures together (Technically not official content). *Uploading NSFW content, such as pornography and shock images (Major offense). *Uploading images and not using them (Image might be deleted if not used after a certain period. If you don't plan on using an uploaded image, then you may request an Admin to delete it for you). *Uploading images and not naming them properly (It makes searching inconvenient for users). *Uploading images and not licensing them properly (Wiki becomes liable to copyright infringement). Talk Page and Discussion Vandalism This section is for detailing all forms of vandalism related to talk pages and discussions (which includes forum threads, message walls and blogs). *Adding unallowed text in others' user pages. *Changing the contents of other people's messages in talk pages and blogs. *Not leaving a signature at the end of a talk page or blog comment (You should be accountable for everything you write). *Trying to pass off as another user by changing one's signature in a talk page or blog discussion. Likewise, messing with others' signatures to pass them off as someone else. (Major offense. This is a blatant attempt to deceive the community). *Spamming of any kind (Posts that have repetitive content or that flood or disrupt a discussion). *Excessive bumping of threads (Difficult discussion). Other Forms of Vandalism This section is for detailing all forms of vandalism that don't fit any of the above categories. *Posting spoilers (image or text) before chapters are released. *Creating pages with content unrelated to Dark Lord. *Sharing viruses, malware or some other malicious program in the wiki. *Hacking the wiki. *Unallowed Bot accounts. *Unallowed advertising. Trolling Trolling refers to deliberate attempts to stir up a community by sowing discord and/or provoking users to respond back, usually through inflammatory comments. Trolling might sound similar to vandalism, but the key difference here is that while vandalism hurts the experience between users and the wiki by targeting the latter, trolling usually targets the users themselves. Anything that can be used to personally annoy other users may count as trolling to an extent. Practices that may be considered forms of trolling include: *Posting offensive messages to other users. This includes racism, sexism, homophobia or any form of hate speech. *Being disrespectful in general (This includes using excessive explicit language, acting with hostility and insulting others). *Harassing other users (This includes stalking, bullying, bashing, etc). *Threatening other users (Major offense). *Inflammatory comments (Ex: "THIS COMIC SUCKS!!!". You're welcome to criticize any aspect of Dark Lord or even another completely unrelated work, but never in a hyperbolic, dismissive manner). *Starting political or religious arguments (The wiki has nothing personal against politics or religion, but those are a surefire way to start an unnecessary flame war. This is not the place for that). Inappropriate Usernames The following are the kinds of usernames that we do not tolerate in the wiki: *Inflammatory (Contains an offensive message) *Erotic (Contains lewd, NSFW content) *Profane (Contains very foul language) *Overly lengthy (Contains an obnoxious amount of characters. Try to keep it below 30 characters) *Spammish (Contains confusing or gibberish elements common to spam posts. Ex: "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" or "heafbviqehlbceqilcxqgeuo") *Used for Impersonation or Mockery of Another User (If the username is a clear attempt to emulate another) In regards to impersonation, the Administration needs to analyze and proceed with caution as coincidences can happen, especially if the username represents a generic or common theme in the wiki, like an username inspired by a Dark Lord character. Anyone who is caught sporting an inappropriate username will have their account blocked. They might be allowed to return to the wiki under a different, more appropriate username by the request of an Admin (It's possible for the Administration to assume in good faith that an user might not have known about the meaning of a certain word, especially for non-English users). However, those who display extremely inappropriate usernames, like something that fits two or more of the criteria established above, will probably not be allowed to return for a while or indefinitely, with Bureaucrats being advised to rename those usernames to avoid them being recorded on the wiki through edit histories. Multiple User Accounts While FANDOM allows for multiple accounts to be used by a single person, we at the Dark Lord Database generally expect every user to perform edits through just one account, for the sake of accountability and community trust. Anyone who is caught using more than one account at the same time or alternately, in short intervals of time, will be punished accordingly, even if both accounts are not being used to maliciously deceive or confuse others. There are a few exceptional cases that allow the use of multiple accounts. For example, someone who lost access to their previous account due to forgetting the password and thus created a new account to return to activity after a long time. In cases like this, it's advisable for the user to confirm with an Admin about their circumstances. The Admin, in turn, should block the older account indefinitely. Sock Puppetry Sock Puppetry is a term used to refer to a someone who has created another account to cause a problem on a community. This may be to: *Avoid a block or ban *Post vandalism *Harass another user *Instigate conflict *Create illusions of support *Deceive and/or confuse other users Sock Puppetry is a major offense in the wiki, as it not only breaches community trust, but does so in a likely dishonest, ill-intentioned manner. Extra accounts (sockpuppets) should be blocked indefinitely and their talk pages should be deleted. Discord While the wiki's Discord server and the wiki itself might not follow the same set of rules due to being different platforms, that does not mean that what happens in one place won't have consequences in the other as both platforms keep integrating further. The wiki's Administration team is also present in the Discord Server, and if they detect any sort of problematic behavior from the part of an user who has an active presence in the wiki as well, then the Admins will have the right to at least carefully observe the user in question along with their wiki activity, with the intent of protecting the wiki first and foremost. The wiki can't punish users solely for rule-breaking in the Discord and vice-versa (unless under very specific circumstances where the rule-breaking may involve the other platform to some extent). However, if an user is caught breaking the wiki's rules, and said user has a history of past misconduct in the Discord Server, then the wiki's Administration may use that to enforce a more severe punishment. For more information about our Discord policies, check our official Discord Policy page. Misuse of Blocks The main, and only, purpose for blocks and bans is to punish users who have broken too many rules, committed major offenses or disrupted the community in some way, enough to be perceived as a threat to the wiki. This means that users, including Admins, are not allowed to request blocks for themselves, for whatever reason. If an Admin wants to step down from their duties, they should notify a Bureaucrat. Their wiki account will remain active, however. If an Admin gets into an argument with another user, they should not use blocks to end the discussion unless there's sufficient evidence that the user in question is committing some major offense, which would brand them as a possible threat to the wiki and thus justify a block. In any case, it's strongly advisable for the Admin to cautiously pull back and then contact another member of the Administration, so that they may intervene, instead of taking matters into their own hands. This is to avoid possible accusations of abusing power. Issues between Admins are usually solved by the Administration team itself, since every Admin is supposed to provide checks and balances to each other, with FANDOM staff possibly getting involved if needed. Users who believe an Admin is stepping out of line may contact another member of the Administration, a Bureaucrat or FANDOM staff in order to intervene. However, those users have to keep in mind that removing an Admin this way is a serious matter, and it's necessary enough evidence and widespread community support to justify such a revocation. It's recommended that users read the "How You Can Work Through an Admin Dispute" FANDOM blog for more information about this. In case an Admin gets globally blocked by FANDOM staff for reasons beyond the scope of the wiki, they will likely have their Administration rights revoked by a Bureaucrat, since this could lead to potential danger and disruption for the Dark Lord Database and its community (unless the offending Admin is able to convince FANDOM staff that there was no wrongdoing from their part, thus removing their block). Effects of Blocking Blocked users become unable to login or edit anything in the wiki (although they can still see pages). The exception to this is the Talk Page, which the blocked user may use for protesting their block in an acceptable manner. However, an Admin may disable this right if they believe that the user has broken too many rules or caused serious disruption in the wiki. The duration of the block depends on the expiry time that was entered by the Admin at the time of the blocking act. If the expiry time is "infinite", the ban will not run out, and the user can only edit again if an admin physically removes the block. An Admin may choose to extend, reduce or even remove a blocking period, under certain circumstances. Navigation